Cunningham is key to Saints' fightback

St Helens staged a second-half revival at Griffin Park to chalk up a seventh successive win yesterday.

The visitors trailed 12-10 at half-time but turned things around with a scintillating display of running rugby. They pulled level with a Sean Long penalty two minutes into the second half and never looked back.

Three minutes later Keiron Cunningham made a damaging break before Mickey Higham and Long combined to send Darren Albert over.

Cunningham was again heavily involved after 50 minutes before Albert and Long worked an opening for Ade Gardner to cross in the corner.

The Broncos tried valiantly to get back into the game and only a last-ditch tackle by Higham prevented Chris Thorman from crossing the line.

Then 10 minutes from time Andrew Hamilton broke with no support but Thorman saw an opening and sent Dennis Moran under the posts to bring the deficit to only six points.

Saints had the last laugh when Albert rose to knock Long's high kick out of Nigel Roy's reach into the waiting hands of John Stankevitch who was presented with an easy chance from close range.

"I thought we were in with a chance until the last try," said the London coach Tony Rea. "We have had a tough fortnight and we have played 400 minutes of footie."

Leeds ended a strange week with a hard-fought 26-12 win over Hull at the KC Stadium on Saturday.

Late tries from Francis Cummins and Willie Poching settled a penalty-ridden encounter. "It has been a tough week for us all but we have managed to finish it on a positive," said the Leeds coach Daryl Powell.